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Summary of the impact

Professor Brean Hammond's scholarly attribution of Double Falsehood
as containing what remains of the `lost' Shakespeare/Fletcher Cardenio
(1612/13) and his edition of the play for the prestigious Arden
Shakespeare series contributed to the preservation and presentation of an
element of literary cultural heritage that had previously been
marginalised. Hammond's research has:

contributed to the economic prosperity of the Shakespeare
publishing industry, delivering `unusually high' sales for Bloomsbury
(publishers of his Arden edition), and more broadly serving as a
stimulus for the publication of editions by rival publishers (CUP,
Palgrave)

expanded theatrical repertoire through informing new theatre
productions internationally, including the Royal Shakespeare Company's
Cardenio (2011), reaching audiences in London, New York, Calgary
and Utrecht

increased public awareness and knowledge of the play, and
stimulated public interest in issues of canonisation, attribution and
collaborative authorship through a broad range of international media
engagement, and an international series of talks and lectures. The
effect of this media engagement on Arden sales suggests engagement from
a wider audience than that usually reached by scholarly editions.

Underpinning research

Professor of Modern English Literature Brean Hammond (Nottingham, 2000-)
had a Clark Library Fellowship to research a book on Alexander Pope in
1986. During this he observed Pope's Dunciad making extensive
mocking reference to a play called Double Falsehood. Published by
the editor Lewis Theobald in 1728 as `Written Originally by W.
Shakespeare', Double Falsehood has since been linked to the `lost'
Shakespeare/Fletcher play Cardenio. By the 1990s, Shakespeare
scholars and theatre directors were trying to reconstitute versions of
this `lost' play. Hammond proposed a scholarly edition of Double
Falsehood as a genuine carrier of Shakespeare's `DNA' to the Arden
General Editors and his resulting edition was published in March 2010
(3.1).

Hammond's research on Double Falsehood, which bore fruit both in
the Arden edition (3.1) and in related book chapters which built on and
developed the edition's findings (3.2, 3.3), provided a narrative of
manuscript transmission and a stylometric analysis of internal lexical,
grammatical, allusional and other evidence. It identified contributions to
the text from three key authors: Shakespeare, Fletcher and the adapter
Lewis Theobald. It also uncovered clues to the presence of a Restoration
layer of adaptation, probably by Betterton (3.1).

Important archival discoveries by Hammond further underpinned the
attribution of Double Falsehood as collaboratively authored:
Hammond's discovery in the Bodleian Library of a hitherto unremarked sale
document noting the transfer of a copyright entitled `The History of
Cardenio' to the Shakespeare publisher Jacob Tonson in 1718; and his
research into newspapers from the 1770s which established the existence of
manuscripts in the Theatre Museum in Covent Garden, and demonstrated that
some literary property corresponding to the `lost' Cardenio could
be tracked. These findings were supported by Hammond's uncovering of
obscure references in printed books and his analysis of the great
Shakespeare scholar Edmond Malone's annotated copy of the play (3.1).

Hammond's scholarship, contained in both the extensive textual apparatus
characteristic of Arden editions and the individual book chapters that
arose from his research on the play, has made a substantial contribution
to: recent study of the nature of collaborative authorship in
Shakespeare's era; Shakespearean textual editing; and debates about
canonisation (3.1, 3.2 & 3.3). Two book chapters have extended the
research's implications and, in the case of 3.3, made use of archival
material (a previously unknown first edition of Double Falsehood,
signed by Theobald) that emerged subsequent to publication of the Arden
edition. The first contrasts Double Falsehood with Ireland's
notorious forgery Vortigern; it further supports the argument for
the former as having `a genuine basis in Shakespeare' and explores its
significance for understanding how Shakespeare and his writings were
perceived and used by eighteenth century editors (and forgers), and for
changing ideas of authenticity and evidence (3.2). A second chapter
analyses reactions to the Arden edition and also considers the
implications of the `Unanswered Questions' raised by the edition and
responses to it for current understanding of authorship and collaboration
(3.3). A journal article builds on the research to examine Doran's RSC
production of Cardenio (itself informed by Hammond's research),
drawing out the differences between scholarship and theatrical practice,
and considering the implications of these for ideas of how `lost' texts
are reconstituted (3.4).

References to the research

2. Brean S. Hammond, `Shakespeare Discoveries and Forgeries' in Peter
Sabor and Fiona Ritchie eds. Shakespeare in the Eighteenth Century
(Cambridge: CUP, 2012), pp.78-96. (Can be supplied by the HEI on request.)
Available on request.

4. Brean S. Hammond, `Putting back the cojones: Gregory Doran's
production of Cardenio' in Restoration and Eighteenth-Century
Theatre Research 26.1-2 (2011), 76-84. Available on request.

The quality of the research is underpinned by the reputation of the Arden
Shakespeare as the world flagship Shakespeare edition, by the academic
prominence of the editors of items 2 and 3, and by the significance of the
peer-reviewed journal in the case of item 4.

Details of the impact

From its inclusion in the Arden series for the first time in March 2010,
to its staging, the first for over two centuries, in Calgary in the same
year, Double Falsehood has served to crystalise interest in issues
of authorial attribution and literary canonisation. It has also enriched
the imaginations of audiences who have engaged with the play as text or
through its theatrical production.

Creating new cultural capital: The Arden edition ofDouble
Falsehood

Hammond's archival research on the provenance of Double Falsehood
convinced Bloomsbury Publishing to include his edition of the play as a
standalone volume in its world flagship Arden Shakespeare (3.1). The
significance of this decision, of Hammond's research for his edition, and
of the academic and wider response to it was confirmed in 2011 when the
text of the single volume Arden Shakespeare Complete Works was
revised to include Hammond's text of Double Falsehood for the
first time. Double Falsehood's inclusion in the Arden series
stimulated intense media interest and a range of activity (new editions
from different publishing houses, public engagement talks, lectures,
panels, reviews, productions, blogs) that contributed to the consolidation
of the attribution of Double Falsehood in the public
consciousness. The play has begun to be accepted on the same terms and in
the same fora as other plays co-authored by Shakespeare. The presence of
the play in these fora is testament in itself to the impact of Hammond's
research.

Creating wealth in the publishing sector

The publication and reception of Hammond's edition have been of both
commercial and cultural value to Arden: The wide international media
coverage surrounding the edition gave Double Falsehood currency as
a marketing tool (the play is currently advertised in a banner headline on
the front cover of the Arden edition (5.1)) contributing to `highly
unusual' sales figures for a `scholarly edition': Hammond's edition sold
6,166 copies between 2010 and July 2013; the 2011 single volume Arden
Shakespeare Complete Works, which includes Double Falsehood
for the first time, has to date sold 7,580 copies, a significant
proportion of these in the US. The publisher of the Arden Shakespeare at
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC sums up the impact of the press coverage on the
Arden series as follows: `the coverage of the edition put Arden at the
front of Shakespeare scholarship ... It was no doubt helpful to Arden's
general profile as the foremost edition of Shakespeare.' (5.2) The Arden
edition has also added value to the wider industry of Shakespeare
publishing, stimulating subsequent editions of Double Falsehood by
other publishers: It contributed to CUP's decision, in July 2010, to
reprint a facsimile of the 1728 edition by Theobald (5.3) The play has
been included in the new AHRC-funded RSC Collaborative Plays by
Shakespeare and Others, eds. Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen
(forthcoming Palgrave, October 2013) (5.4), thus consolidating Hammond's
findings and attribution within a major new collection from a rival
publisher. The entire Arden edition, including all introductory and
annotatory material, was translated and published in Italian in 2012, with
Hammond's role in the play's recovery and attribution explicitly
referenced by the publishers. (5.5) These publications are all part of the
international on-going scholarly and public debate around the shape and
extent of the Shakespeare canon and attest to the pivotal role of
Hammond's research within that debate.

Both Hammond's Arden edition and the subsequent editions it has
stimulated have made Double Falsehood accessible to a wider
public. The `highly unusual' sales figures for Hammond's edition
demonstrate that public engagement with the research that underpinned the
play's rediscovery (through the edition's introduction and its extensive
textual apparatus) and with the play itself is extending significantly
beyond the audience who normally purchase scholarly editions (confirmed
also by its inclusion in public libraries in cities and counties including
Birmingham, Derbyshire, Devon, Hampshire, Nottinghamshire and Somerset,
showing diffusion of the text through the national library system, whose
demographic is largely extra-academic). (5.6)

Creating cultural capital by adding to and informing theatrical
repertoire

The `interest generated by [Double Falsehood's] ... partial
acceptance into the Shakespearean canon has ... led to modern revivals'
(5.3): Amongst these, Hammond's Arden edition received its world premiere
in Calgary (Shakespeare in the Park, August 2010) and was the basis for
further productions by The Classic Stage Company in New York (March 2011,
audience 2,202), Maddermarket Theatre, Norwich, (March 2011), the KDC
Theatre (2011, audience 330), MokitaGrit in London (2011, audience 2440)
and theatterkikker (Utrecht) in 2012). Hammond's research informed the RSC
staging of Cardenio directed by Greg Doran (3.4, and was
acknowledged in Doran's Shakespeare's Lost Play (5.7)). Doran's
production was watched by an audience of 26,000 between April-September
2011 with 9,200 programmes featuring a centrepiece by Hammond. (5.8) This
(rapid) translation of the play from page to stage has expanded theatrical
repertoire and by extension, stimulated new activity for actors and
directors. In turn, it has enriched the imaginations of audiences who have
engaged with the play through its performance. (5.9) Double
Falsehood's continued influence on the staging of `lost' plays is
shown by its being referenced in publicity for the production of the
`disputed Shakespearean comedy' Fair Em (Union Theatre, 2013;
http://www.fairem.co.uk/).

Raising public awareness of collaborative authorship, canonisation and
attribution

The media reception of the Arden publication - of an extent rarely
accorded to scholarly volumes — and penetration of the story into popular
culture focussed public attention on the underlying scholarly issues of
collaborative authorship, canonisation and attribution and as such stimulated
new public awareness and discussion:

Hammond was interviewed on the BBC Today programme (15.3.10),
one of over 30 radio interviews he gave to stations in UK, USA,
Australia, India, Canada and Colombia, simultaneously translated into
Spanish, including contributions for American National Public Radio
(18.3.10), the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (18.3.10) and
Deutsche Welle (24.4.10).

The interest generated by the story was demonstrated by its being taken
up by major print media in the UK and internationally: articles,
many on the front page, appeared in inter alia, Guardian,
Times, Daily Mail, Telegraph, New York Times,
Wall Street Journal, Philadelphia Inquirer, Boston
Herald, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Sun-Times,
China Post, Straits Times. Significant European coverage
included: Corriere della Sera, La Reppublica, El
Pais, Frankfurter Allgemeine, Süddeutsche Zeitung,
Dagbladet. More locally, Radio Nottingham, the Nottingham
Post and later, the glossy Nottinghamshire Today featured
Hammond's work on the play, the last in a 4pp photographic spread.

At the intersection of academic and public reception are the positive
reviews given to the edition in TLS (21.5.10) and LRB
(2.12.10).

Public interest in and engagement with Hammond's findings and the
issues they raise is further shown by the research's penetration of
popular culture beyond interviews given by Hammond or syndicated
by media outlets. For example, the story featured in columns by Frank
Skinner (The Times 19.3.10; reprinted in Dispatches from the
Sofa: The Collected Wisdom of Frank Skinner (Century, 2011),
169-71) and David Mitchell (The Observer 20.3.10; the online
version attracted 173 comments); a question on the play appeared in the
weekly news quiz featured in The Times and was even a prompt for
Radio 4's Thought for the Day. Time Out covered the play
in both their London and New York editions. (5.9)

The impact of the Arden edition on a range of audiences is further
demonstrated by the demand for Hammond to participate in local,
national and international public events relating to his research
on Double Falsehood. This engagement activity was both unusually
extensive and continued well beyond the publication of the Arden edition
in March 2010, suggesting continued public interest: Talks by Hammond to
schools (e.g. Oakham School), to local groups and audiences (e.g. the
University of Nottingham Women's Social Club, the Nottingham Shakespeare
Society, the Lowdham Book Festival), to national special interest groups
(the Shakespeare Club of Stratford-upon-Avon, the oldest amateur
Shakespeare society in the UK, and the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust),
and international activity including lecture tours to Spain and to
Norway took place throughout the assessment period. (5.10)

Public experience of and engagement with the play was enriched by dedicated
events for theatre audiences in which high-profile scholars and
intellectuals debated the issues raised by Hammond's research: The
Classic Theatre Company off-Broadway production (March-April 2011) was
accompanied by a Symposium in which well-known speakers (James Shapiro,
Stephen Greenblatt, Harold Bloom) engaged the theatre audiences in
post-show discussion; Hammond concluded the series. In October 2011,
Nottingham Playhouse devoted a day to the play, opened by a talk from
Hammond and featuring a directed reading by Michael Fentiman of the
National Theatre.